Update: Underwood, the first American female boxer to ever compete in the Olympics, took the first round but lost the next three and was defeated on points this morning. More after the jump.

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Thursday: With a record that includes five national championships, Olympics lightweight Quanitta "Queen" Underwood was an easy pick for us as winner of the Best Local Boxer title in this week's SW Best of Seattle edition. Unfortunately, she is also apparently the easy choice as likely loser of her opening-round matchup this Sunday in London with Great Britain's toughie, Natasha Jonas. Sportswriters seem to be saying she might as well phone it in.

As the AP sees it, "Underwood was assigned one of the toughest paths to gold imaginable."

The 5-5, 132-pounder will have to fight Jonas in front of the Brit's home crowd in the first round, with the winner meeting Ireland's top-ranked Katie Taylor, figured by some to be the best female boxer at the Olympics. Underwood narrowly lost to Taylor in the 2010 world amateur semis.

In a post-match interview, Underwood was momentarily speechless, emotionally and physically drained by her loss, allowing that she was aware she was losing on points and "that got to me," causing her to change her strategy.

She'd been planning to cut off the ring, to Jonas' disadvantage, but the bouncing Brit stayed on the attack, landing more punches on a slightly confused Underwood. "I felt it wasn't working, going forward the way I was," she said. "So I just decided to go for her after that."

Observers agreed she "gave it her all," as boxing writer Jake Emen put it. But that didn't ease Underwood's pain.

"If I could curse, I would say the S-word," she said. "I hope the people who supported me can look at my journey as a champion instead of the outcome of the win or lose."

Ali, for one, saw it that way. "She's won a lot in her life..." Ali said. "She's still a champion."